Nina Balmaceda

Dr. Vilma “Nina” Balmaceda is the director of the Duke Center for Reconciliation and the Irene and William McCutchen Assoc. Professor of the Practice of Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School, where she also leads the Certificate in Conflict Transformation and Reconciliation, the Americas Initiative for Transformation and Reconciliation, and the Certificate on faith-based advocacy, organizing, and social transformation.

Nina also serves as president/CEO of Peace and Hope International (PHI), a faith-based peacebuilding nonprofit dedicated to preventing and confronting violence and other forms of injustice through local teams serving in marginalized communities in Latin America.

As a Latinx scholar-practitioner, Nina’s work and research focus on interdisciplinary leadership formation for education and civic leadership development for justpeace and reconciliation in the Americas.

Nina earned her Ph.D. in Political Science, and master’s degrees in International Peace Studies, and in Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame du Lac; and a Licentiate in Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.

Nina is happily married to Roberto W. Chia-Cherre and they live in Durham, NC.